


The Obscure Tattoo

by Jsayra



Series: A Cursed Tale [2]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Drama, F/M, Slow Romance, Survival Horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-23 12:09:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23577952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jsayra/pseuds/Jsayra
Summary: ~ Sequel to my other story: "The Cursed Village" ~The village has finally found its rest. However, the sadness remained in Nick and Judy's hearts. Alisha and Jack lost their lives in a tragic way.But just when it was thought that everything would be all right, things took a tremendous turn.Was the curse really broken? Nick and Judy really got out of the village unharmed, as the curse 'supposedly' ended, and the sun shone on the whole village.Stay and read!
Relationships: Judy Hopps & Nick Wilde
Series: A Cursed Tale [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1544236
Kudos: 2





	1. Obscure Tattoo 01

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, ^^
> 
> I decided to cancel my story: "A Tormented Dream," which would be the sequel to the story: "Cursed Village" for a specific reason. I'll rewrite it. 
> 
> In other words, my initial ideas started to get all mixed up, and I saw that the sequel I was writing, even though it was a good one, was in an unconscious context. I re-read the Cursed Village and decided to create a new sequel. 
> 
> So, I apologize for the kudos and the favorites in the other story, but I think this version will be better.

_Finally, let's get out of here!_

That was the thought of both. After all, they'd just been through, what Judy and Nick wanted, was peace. At least for the first week. Then they'd have to be able to have a good talk with Jack and Alisha's relatives. Telling them their kids were dead wasn't easy. And talking about the circumstances of how they died was... mean. But they would ask, and Judy and Nick would have to tell the truth.

They reached the high gate they had entered when they reached the village. Nick let go of Judy's paw to get the gate open. Judy stayed a few feet behind. Turning her head back towards the now sunny village in peace, she did not win to the fright with what her eyes reflected.

"Nick..." her trembling voice called out to him without even turning to him and keeping her eyes fixed on what was in front of her.

"One second, Judy, and we're out of here!" the door was being hard to open.

"Nick..." she called him again, but this time her voice was a firm tone.

"Damn it, Carrots, you got..."

Shock, it was the expression that filled Nick's face when he turned to look at Judy and tell her to take it easy.

"No way!" the words came out in a whisper.

Not just Yae, but there was someone else. But it wasn't Natsuhiko and or Sae, but...

"Alisha?!" the name came out of the rabbit's lips in a stiff, hurt whisper. In her eyes, the tears began to form.

"No, it can't be!" Nick, turning his attention back to the damn gate and, with all his might, tried to break the damn gate. "Oh, no, I'm getting out of here. Like it or not!"

It was really Alisha. In that, there was no doubt. But there was something different. The naked fox's chest, it was all covered with a tattoo. Tattoo that Judy recognized. She was complete. Back, arms, and legs, all filled with a drawing of several snakes in shades of blue, red, and gray. Roses and cherry blossoms also in various shades. Even the face was covered by the tattoo. There was only one part that was not touched by the ink of the drawing. Making a kind of a hexagon, the first tip started in the middle of the neck. The tip on the left and the tip on the right remained in the middle of each breast. The last tip went all the way to the navel. Why that part wasn't tattooed, she didn't know. To complete, instead of the clothes, at her waist a kind of blue skirt, in which Judy realized that it was a kimono in which the upper part had been undressed, but the lower part had not been removed.

_"I warned that for the ritual to be complete, a sacrifice was necessary."_

Judy shuddered. Yae's voice, the voice that Judy thought she would no longer hear, sweated like an even deeper and terrifying echo. At her side, Alisha looked at her. Her beautiful blue eyes were now black and frightening. The smile on her snout, once irritating but kind, was nothing but evil. Even her voice made Nick's fur chill.

_"The wedding will have to be held. The ritual of the bloody moon lived once more. No more the village, no more the suffering. You will need to follow my story. The story of the bride left to die in a cage. You will have the vision; you will have the truth. For now, this body will be perfect."_

And just as they appeared, so they disappeared.

"Damn!" cried Nick in frustration. He banged his fists on the gate. "Why?"

"I think..."

"Oh, don't start, Judith Hopps! I won't, and I don't want to, put my feet there anymore." Keeping on grumbling, kicks were delayed at the gate non-stop.

However, Judy would know that they wouldn't leave there without finishing what Alisha had said.

"Will you stop it at once?" she screamed.

"This damn gate has to open!" and continued the kicks.

"You know as well as I do that the fucking gate won't open."

"I said it, and I'll say it again, I won't put my feet up there again!"

"Like it or not, that gate won't open."

Nick stopped. Panting hard because of the onslaughts, he let his paws rest on the wood and dropped his body a little forward. There they went again to play with death. They could only be joking with him. After all, they'd been through, were they going to keep playing side by side with another curse? What would that be this time? Marriage?

"But why the fuck does curses always have to do with fucking failed marriages or unrequited loves?!" Nick was furious. Super fucking mad. The words were spoken in a screaming tone.

Judy ignored him. She could explain why, but it would only infuriate him more.

"We'll have to go find out!"

"Another ritual. Another sacrifice. I'm sick of it."

"Just like me. However, I have a feeling a sacrifice will not be necessary. We're not incapable of escaping death, but I think that even though we have to fight for our lives, we have no ritual of death, if you understand me."

"Ritual or not, I just want to get rid of this!"

One more punch to the gate, and he swerved and approached his friend.

"Any plans?" Paws on his waist, he looked at her sideways.

"A library would come in handy to find out more!"

"Library?" he repeated the words and then remembered. "I know something like that. It could be the beginning."

Without delay, he grabbed Judy's paw, and they went back into the village no longer cursed. Or not?

**_-*-*-_ **

How they got there, not even Nick knew it himself. His instinct said that that was the right way, although the first time he met there, in that cubicle, the way to there had not been decorated.

Judy, in turn, remembered that place well. When she passed there, the memories were painful. The ritual, the Natsuhiko, Jack's death, all came back in a whirlwind of emotions that shook her. However, shaking her head, she continued to follow the path behind Nick. Her eyes spent most of the time before they reached the cubicle, where she had several old books and notebooks on Nick's back. There was no time to talk about their feelings, although the words were not necessary to know how they felt about each other. When Judy went to talk, she just shut up. Nick's anger was painful for her, even though it wasn't her fault.

Sitting on the floor, each in every corner of the little cubicle, they took out some books and notebooks and started reading them. Judy searched for specific titles, including those of the rituals and about the festival of the bloody moon. Nick, on the other paw, stayed for the marriages. The word 'marriage' that Alisha had uttered earlier had remained in his memory. In a way, even though he no longer possessed any lost soul as before, there was something in that word that made his feelings stir without knowing why his sixth sense told him to look deeper into the subject.

"Nick?" Judy called him.

Rising from where she stood, she sat down next to the fox. The book was worn down by time, landed on her legs. With her index finger, she read what she had discovered.

"Under the full light, the dance must be recreated. The gods must be acclaimed, the priests remembered, and the priestess recognized."

Confusion. Both were confused. Nick looked at Judy with his eyebrows raised.

"I don't understand!" were the words he expressed. Judy kept reading.

"After being nailed by the tattoos on her body, the priestess has to recreate the dance of the gods on the full moon. These custom serves to bring prosperity to the marriage. For this, the chosen priestess must be of a special kind. A rare species in the midst of all the prevailing species." a pause.

"What species do you mean?" Nick asked.

Crossing his arms, he closed his eyes and thought. The twins were wolves, just like Natsuhiko. So was their father. Judy searched the memory that Natsuhiko had shown her when they had their first encounter. The villagers were all practically predators. Rare was the prey. There were some, but...

"No way!" the words came out of the rabbit's mouth in alarm.

Leaving a Nick confused, she stood up and resumed the pile of books she had taken off the shelf. Kneeling before the pile of books, Judy frantically searched with her paws for a particular book. Nick followed her immediately. Standing beside her, he stood. Pawed at the waist, he bent forward a little.

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

"The book of the villagers. In it are all the species that lived in this village and nearby." And Judy found the book. Leafing through it, she found the page she was looking for. "I knew it."

"Carrots?"

"Here, Nick." She lifted the book and pointed with her index finger. "The predominant species were predators. Wolves, tigers, leopards, among others. The prey was rare, but there was, of course. But the rare species was mine, rabbit."

"I don't understand, Carrots! Aren't you good at multiplying?" he tried to joke, but Judy's alarm expression made the mischievous smile disappear as soon as it had been put on his snout.

"The priestess who must be the offering to the angry gods were the female rabbits. In the old days, as good as we are to multiply, many of our own were killed, leaving only a litter of five or less".

"Where did you read about that?"

"It's the story of our ancestors, Nick." Judy turned the book over to her and flipped a few more pages. "Here..." and turned the book over to Nick again. "From what it says here, we're a kind of threat to predators. Such legend made the villagers of this village hate us. And those who were born into well-respected families were forced to come home with a different species, breed, and give themselves as an offering to calm the gods. However, rabbits and wolves, or rabbits, and other predators did not work, and the young died in their mother's womb. That is, when the elders realized that a new species would not be born, they began to give the female rabbits as a ritual, so that, in this way, the will of the gods would be appeased".

"What a thing. Today we have several species born of prey and predators and very healthy and even more beautiful than the species itself." Nick sighed for such a thing.

"Yeah, but even then, things used to be seen differently." Judy closed the book.

"This has to end. I don't give a shit about the old days. I just want to get out of here." Nick sighed once more and went back to where he was before. "Let's look for information on how to finish this new ritual without **_either of us dies_**." And he signed his last words well.

But Judy knew they were a long way from getting out of there so fast. Besides, that ritual... there was something not right. 

**_To be continued…_ **


	2. Obscure Tattoo 02

_Nick... Nick... Don't... Don't come. If you do, you'll die!_

_The amphitheater was small, but enough to bring together the important mammals of the village and nearby. Four priests arranged in every corner of the circle. The land had been wet. Four stakes, where the priests were, stuck to the ground. The white ribbon surrounded the circle. Four cubs. These females. Those of her kind. Judy had a white kimono in her body. The tape that held her was crimson. The mask in her eyes, also the same color as the ribbon._

_The melody had started with the beating of the sticks on the ground. The three cubs sang a melody. In front of the circle, on the stone benches, the gaze of the old villagers. All predators. Only two of them were rabbits. Expressions of them all were firm. It was time for the offering to the gods._

_Behind the bleachers, Nick. His knees firmly on the ground. His paws behind his back. In his eyes, tears flowed. From his mouth, the words ‘Let her go’ were constant. Behind him, two priests._

_Judy felt fear. She felt trapped. She felt lost. But what she felt most, was sadness. She knew what she had to do. But if she did, her eyes would close... forever._

**_-_-_-_**

Judy woke up in a state of shock. Her breathing was accelerated. The faint light of the little candle on the little wooden table next to her lit up the place where she was standing. She was still in the cubicle. She had fallen asleep. Next to her was Nick. His serene face said he wasn't having a nightmare. On the contrary, he was sleeping soundly and serenely. She turned to her side and enjoyed the face of the fox she loved so much. Then came her memory of the image of his suffering. She trembled. Was it a vision of the future? Was she now the one to be sacrificed?

_"The ritual of bloody dancing will only be the beginning of suffering."_

Judy petrified. Behind Nick, Alisha. One of her paws landed on the fox's shoulder. Nick's soft expression changed to a serious one. Another paw and Nick babbled something.

 _"Even after I died, the love I felt for my future husband was not undeserved_." Now, Nick's whole body was in a shell. He looked like he was suffering. Judy tried to move, but her body was paralyzed. _"I loved him with all my heart. I called his name. I went through the pain of being marked"_ this time, it was Judy screaming in pain. On her left arm, lines were drawn in the shape of something. It looked like a knife cutting through her skin. _"The tattoo should bring prosperity to a good marriage and a bright future."_ Judy twisted even more. The pain was unbearable. Her whole body was burning. Nick wasn't far behind. With his back on the ground, his paws were trying in vain to remove something invisible from his neck. _"Going through the dance was nothing. Putting the paint on the skin was painful, but bearable._ _But what came next was worse."_

Alisha had almost passed Nick's body and headed towards Judy. It was at that moment that a book was her help. Grabbing it, she threw it to Alisha, and she was gone.

Judy breathed with relief. The pain was gone. But Nick was still suffering. Getting up, Judy called out his name while gently tapping him on the face to wake him up.

"Wake up, please."

Minutes went by, and nothing. Nick suffered every second. Judy did anything to wake him up.

"NICK, WAKE UP!"

The fox's eyes opened. Fast breathing began to gain a calm rhythm. His eyes met Judy's. Without delay, he got up and hugged her. Judy was left with no reaction. The hug became tighter. The rabbit realized something very bad had happened, and it looked like he was confirming that if she was real.

"I'm fine!" she said, at last, hugging him back.

"I thought I'd lost you." He wouldn't let go. He had no intention of letting go of her for a few moments.

"What did you dream?"

"A circle. I saw you dancing. I asked you to stop, but it was like a trance. The dance was magnificent but deadly."

 _The same dream, but from a different perspective._ She thought and sighed, letting go of the hug, but staying in the same place.

"Nick, I think I see where this is going."

"Oh, there's no way you're dancing in that death circle! "

"That's not it." Judy closed her eyes and sighed. "I may be wrong, but Alisha has our answers."

"What do you mean?"

"I have a feeling we're going to learn a lot about her. Or, rather, about the soul that possessed Alisha's body."

"There, we go back to the same shit." Nick sighed, an angry sigh.

"She said at the village entrance that that body would be good. Didn't you hear?"

"I didn’t pay attention to such details."

"Well, I did. So, we'll have to investigate the bloody moon festival first if we want answers."

"You did that yesterday."

"Yes, but I'm missing something!"

Judy took her index finger to her chin in thoughtful mode. Then she looked with her eyes for the books on the floor. There would have to be something concrete about the lunar dance ritual. If that was the first phase, then only from there, would they have the answers?

"Who could do the ritual were the female rabbits. So, the last ritual should have been a success, but unfortunately, it wasn't. Nick, Alisha had it here." she looked him in the eye. "Her tattoo, the dance of the ritual, the wedding, her husband, all of it she spoke in half words."

"Who was the husband?" Nick asked. "She suffered the paws of the villagers just like Yae and Sae. But they had Natsuhiko. Who is it now?" 

The silence fell on them. The predominant species were predators. It was then that light was shed on Judy's memory.

"It can't be!"

"What is it, Carrots?"

"Look for something about the predominant males marrying my species."

"Huh..."

"Do as I say!"

A _tsk_ came out of the fox's lips, but there he did her a favor.

_It can't be. Tell me it's not true. Who are you, Alisha? What is your true form?_

Looking in the books scattered on the floor, there was nothing visible to what she was looking for. So, Judy got up and searched on the shelves behind her.

_Predominant males. Predominant males... Ah, I found it._

Taking out a small book, Judy flicked it. All the important males in the village. Tigers, panthers, lions, and wolves. They were the predator species of good families. It was then that her doubt became clear. There was a well-to-do family, well known for their prey fertilization. That species was...

"Anything?" Nick whispered in her ear.

In that instant, Judy closed the book and smiled, in a tenuous, forced smile.

"No, nothing."

"That's no good. Will we have to go back to investigate the village in more detail?"

"Perhaps?"

"Great! We'd better start with a thousand houses and a thousand doors. After all, we haven't seen all of them, and the village extends more than just the entrance and the village's master house."

**_-_-_-_**

There was a damp hole that led to a small compartment. The water on their feet didn't bother them. What got Nick out of him, however, was the damn sliding door that was broken in his ash and stranded with wood from the ceiling.

"I'll break you with all my might."

Nick had taken a lost candlestick somewhere and started breaking the rotten wood from the door. All it would take is one small hole for them to get through to the other side.

Meanwhile, Judy remained silent in her thoughts. Everything was still very confusing, but of one thing she was sure, they would have to find out more about all that.

A bang.

The hole that was initially meant to be small for them to pass through became a strand of scattered wood piling up on top of each other. And Nick went along with the wood. Judy ran to his aid. Nick grabbed her paw and wiped the dust off the worn-out dirty clothes.

"Are you okay?" she asked him, worried, looking at both him and the wreckage behind him.

"I am." Then he turned to the damage he had done. "Well, at least we made it through without difficulty." And he laughed embarrassed.

Judy did the honors first. The dark took them in with a smile.

"Let me go first." Nick passed her. "Hold on to me." The rabbit grabbed his arm. She'd forgotten the fox's night vision.

They were both in a small hallway. The wood damp from the water made Nick careful not to hold the wall too tight so it wouldn't break. Judy followed through the darkness. In her mind, she asked caution in her movements. Her feet were carefully placed so she wouldn't trip and make them both fall. Nick suddenly stopped.

"What?" she asked.

"Door." He answered.

Judy let go of him and kept quiet while the fox tried to open the door. Luckily for both, they succeeded without any effort.

The shock of the outside light made Judy tear. The fresh night air caught them by surprise.

"How? It was just daytime!"

Nick was baffled. Judy decided to go through it. The garden in front of her was beautiful. Surrounded by tall trees, a stone road would lead to a manor.

"Well, we better start climbing!" In a disheartened shrug, Judy spoke, looking at Nick, who was still trying to figure out what was going on.

It didn't take them long to reach the home. It was big. Three floors. The moonlight reflected the glass windows covered with grass. Some of the wooden shutters were broken and sloping. Others, they remained intact. The roof, sometimes broken, sometimes complete, gave a false sense of comfort.

"Incredible!" Ironically, Nick had to get used to the sudden changes of scenery, the state of things, and the elegance of a well-kept garden.

Judy decided to go through the Hall. The little three steps creaked when she set foot there. The floor was rotten, so the caution where she stepped had to be doubled. The giant door in front of her seemed to have remained unchanged over time, so the doorknob wasn't hard to pull, making the door open in a small creaking sound.

Once again, the darkness welcomed them, but in one corner of the entrance, there was a small lit candle giving as much light as possible to see where they would set foot.

"Oh, I still can't get used to that!"

Nick meant the candles. All the candles he'd found were always lit, and the wax didn't seem to melt.

"I'm more worried about what we're going to find out."

"The moonlight dance and the marriage of your kind. I still find it strange the way things are being... developed. Besides, who will be the fertile predators with the rabbits? Argh... so many unanswered questions."

Judy bit her lower lip. There was something she hadn't told Nick. Not that she wanted to hide it, but because she still had her doubts. She'd say as soon as her doubts were confirmed.

"Grumbling won't get us anywhere." The rabbit began to walk through a small door that was on her left side, since in front of her, the first floor had fallen, blocking the passage beyond. "We'll have to stay calm." And she opened the door.

**_To be continued…_ **


	3. Obscure Tattoo 03

"This may never end!" were the words of a completely angry fox.

They hadn't strayed far from the lobby. When Judy opened the door, she was impressed that it led to some stairs. Climbing up, on the first floor, they came upon a quadrangular corridor, where huge windows overlap on the remaining floors. Looking through the glass, there was a garden. Big enough to bring together several mammals on a quiet, well-done afternoon. On the left side, there were some stairs that would lead to the rest of the floors. On the right side, the corridor stretched in strange contours, showing doors every three-four meters.

"And there we go to test doors!" whispered the fox in a sigh.

Judy ignored her friend's whining that was already stirring with her sanity. While Nick had walked to the first door, the rabbit kept her eyes violet in the garden below. Looking to it, no more than two wooden benches, a small stonemason with flowers already ruined by time, small trees around, and a small lake where once there would be fish. Simple and beautiful. However, looking more closely, Judy noticed something different. Approaching the glass, she put her paws on it. In one corner of the garden was there some kind of a... cemetery?

"Door one and door two, out of the question. They say the third is for good." Nick spoke, now heading to the last door to see if it opened.

Judy didn't pay any attention to him, keeping her focus on the small cemetery. Something was attracting her, and she wasn't sure why. Without delay, she swerved and ran up the stairs a few minutes ago. At that moment, Nick realized what had happened and ran after her. He didn't catch up with her right away. But when he did, she was just gone.

He yelled her name. He searched the lobby. No sign of her. Then, he stopped. He looked at the wreckage in front of him carefully. There was no way through.

"Damn it, Judy, where are you?" He screamed in frustration.

He decided to go back up the stairs to the first floor. He tried again to open the three doors he had tried before and, as such, without success. He ran back up the stairs, this time, those that would give to the second floor. As he was going up, something caught his eye. Through the glass, he saw Judy squatting before something. Without delay, with his fists closed, he called out for her. But in vain.

Judy didn't know how she got there. When she came to her senses, she was squatting before the cemetery she had seen through the glass. Without delay, she got up and looked around.

_How did I get there?_

Suddenly, she heard something banging. Looking up, she saw Nick.

"Nick?" she screamed.

"Are you all right?" Judy nodded positively. "How did you get there?" he yelled. She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, indicating she didn't know. "Stay where you are. I'll come to you."

"WAIT!"

"What?"

"There!" and the rabbit pointed with her right arm at the door. Nick followed the movement with his eyes. "Maybe I can go through that door."

Nick sighed. There they were going to be apart again. Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine. A feeling of fear left his instincts on alert. Something was not right. Turning his attention back to his friend, he petrified.

_Oh, no... no... no..._

"Judy, run!" he shouted as his fists hit the glass to get her attention.

Without delay and confusion, she looked at him. Nick pointed to her left side.

"RUN!"

And Judy ran towards the door. Upstairs, Nick had gone downstairs and returned to the lobby. In that pile of wood, there had to be some passage.  
  
  


The door that the rabbit had mentioned, which could be an escape, was actually the sentence of her death. This one didn't open. 

_Come on!_

She pulled, threw herself against it, but the door didn't open.

_"The priestesses told me that if I got the tattoo and danced in the light of the full moon, the gods would provide a prosperous marriage." The body was Alisha's, but the voice was different. Although Judy didn't feel much fear for her friend, at that moment, there was something different. "I loved him, and I still do. I screamed his name. I asked him to set me free, but he didn't come to me."_

_Come on, damn door!_

There was nowhere to run. Alisha gets closer and closer.

Meanwhile, Nick had grabbed the little candle. Taking it, he set the wood on the fire. But since it was damp, the fire didn't stick. Indignant, he kicked it. Perhaps, due to rot, the wood would give way. Fate decided to help him for the first time. With the impact, Nick managed to open a small passage, big enough to just crouch down and give himself to the other side. However, thinking he had direct access to the garden, what welcomed him was a corridor and the door in front. The anger dispersed, and he ran to the door. But, the door did not open.

"Oh, don't play with me." And then an avalanche of kicks and shoulders started to bring the door down.

Closer and closer. More and more, the feeling of fear. Besides, the pain went all over the rabbit's body. Again, lines after lines began to be drawn on her little body. Judy realized that when Alisha appeared, the tattoo also appeared.

_"You know the male that strengthens us. You know the predator that can conceive the special cubs for us."_

"Stop!"

Judy had fallen to her knees. Her paws clung to her arms, trying to control an unbearable pain. Her eyes were closed, and tears flowed down her cheeks.

 _"You'll have to see. You'll have to feel it. Only then will you know what true love means."_ And Alisha touched her.

**_-_-_-_**

_She felt cold. Her back hurt. She felt her wrists and ankles attached to something. Her eyes opened. The landscape had changed._

_"Where?"_

_The question came out in a whisper from her lips, soon muffled by the hammering of something. Judy turned her head and noticed three priestesses and two elder females. On the paws of the old females, one bowl of ink and the other a huge needle. The priestesses that were behind the two elders, sitting on their knees side by side. Their faces were covered with a white mantle, being difficult to decipher which species they were._

_One pain, and Judy screamed. Another pain, and again she screamed. The tears filled her eyes immediately. She recognized the pain._

_"Nailed to my skin was the drawing of the serpent. A mammal that did not evolve, becoming like a kind of god. God, this one, who brings prosperity and happiness." The voice was different. Very different from Yae or Alisha. Judy turned her head to look at the priestesses, and her heart died when she noticed the talking female. "The wedding is in two days." The voice kept talking. Judy was petrified of the female. She couldn't believe her own eyes. "Ryo awaits me at the altar. We will be blessed on this great day. I will be the first to grant a different species." A smile._

_"Ryo?"_

_"The only way you can get out of town is to recreate the dance and the wedding. However, only one of you will escape unharmed, and you know what I mean. Yae didn't make it, but I will. Yeah, Ryo's true soul is in the mammal, you know well. Although Sae used him, she did it the wrong way. Ryo's memory is very much alive. The twins' illusion was just that, an illusion. The real story begins here, and the real ritual ends here."_

**_-_-_-_**

Just like it appears, disappears. Judy felt weak and felt her body slipping. In that instant, the door opened. Nick staggered, but he didn't lose his balance. Then his eyes fixed on Judy, and he ran towards her, eventually catching her before she fell to the ground.

"Are you okay?" the concern was obvious.

"Nick?"

She opened her eyes and turned her head. When she saw him, she threw herself into the fox's arms and started crying compulsively.

"What's wrong?" he asked, amazed at her reaction.

Judy didn't answer; she just cried.

She knew what would happen. She knew that the hope that always kept her positive about the village had died. The voice that had spoken to her was nothing less than her own. The female who stuck her tattoo and sacrificed her marriage was nothing more than herself. Ryo, the predator who could raise the different cubs, was nothing more than Nick himself.

She was lost, confused. If she had been sacrificed, why did the other version of her say the ritual would now be true?

**_To be continued…_ **


	4. Obscure Tattoo 04

Separated by a few meters, Nick was sitting on the ground near the small garden. Legs apart and bent, his arms leaned on his knees. With his head down, he sighed again and again.

The reason? Judy returned to her secrets and they ended up arguing.

 _"Nick, it's not that I want to hide anything from you, but neither do I understand what happened!"_ were the only words that came out of her mouth, after a good while trying to calm down from the compulsive crying.

The silence was painful for both. Judy kept sitting on the cold stone steps. Her elbows were resting on her knees. Her forehead rested on the palms of her paws. The confusion at first had given her deep despair. There were many pieces of the puzzle missing, although, deep down, the pieces would not be too hard to fit together.

"We must continue." She broke the silence.

"Which way?" There was a little anger in his voice, but he sighed right away.

Judy looked around. Where Nick had been before, something supernatural had blocked the door again. That is, there was no longer any hole in the other side. So, the only way out would be the door behind her.

"You tried, and it didn't work!" as if reading her thoughts, Nick spoke dryly.

"I'll try again."

Judy stood up and turned all her attention to the metal door with wooden folds in front of her. The trunk that served as a latch was removed from its folds. Then, on the large black metal handles in a circle, Judy took her paws and grabbed them tightly. She took a deep breath and prayed for the door to open. Then, with effort, she pulled, and the big doors opened. A smell of rottenness entered her nostrils, causing her to take her arm to cover her nose. Although well away, Nick also felt the smell and controlled himself not to vomit. The darkness welcomed them.

"Nick!" Judy called him.

The fox swallowed the vomit that insisted on rising his throat. He covered his snout with his paw and approached the rabbit. There, he activated his night vision. However, in doing so, he was in shock. Judy noticed that his friend became tense and took a paw to his arm.

"What's going on?"

"Judy, we'll have to find another place to go," Nick whispered, instead of talking normally. Giving off that what he saw or was seeing would move against them at any moment.

"There's no other way out," she replied in the same whisper.

"There has to be!"

"Nick, what if... ARGH!"

Again, the pain.

The burning sensation.

The agony of needles to be stuck several times in the skin. She fell to her knees. Tears came to her eyes. With her left paw, she grabbed the wrist of her right arm with force. Trying, in a vain attempt, to calm that unpleasant feeling. At that moment, Nick tried to help her, but without success.

Alisha, with all her elegance, came out of the dark. Her paw went against Judy's neck, lifting her a few feet off the ground. The poor rabbit took her two paws to the arm that cut her breath. Nick, on the other hand, went to help her. However, this attempt failed. Alisha's other free paw rose perpendicular to her body and something invisible led Nick to be pushed and tapped with his left shoulder on the ground, spinning over the dust until his body stagnated. In this process, several cuts appeared on his arms, face, and blood flowed from his lower lips. He coughed, leaning his paws on the ground when he tried to get up.

"No... no... don’t hurt him!"

 _"He survives,"_ Alisha answered. A sinister smile reappeared on her dark face.

"Let her go!" Nick screamed and tried to get up, but hurt as he was, his body did not respond.

_"You, you will go with me. You need to know what's going on!"_

And just like she appeared, she disappeared with Judy. The big door closed tightly, leaving one Nick perplexed and angry. He slammed one of his fists on the ground.

"Not again," he yelled, as tears came to his eyes.

Once again, they had been separated.

***

**The vision was blurred. Slowly, Judy blinked several times to focus her vision. Her body was sore, and she shook when she tried to move. Supporting a paw on the ground, she straightened her body. She was in shock. In front of her, a long rectangular mirror. Her reflection scared her. What started in her arm, now covered her whole body. Just like Alisha. The tattoo was complete.**

**"I said it and I say it again, I don't want to get married!"**

**The female voice sounded very familiar to Judy's ears. Behind her, a door slid with all the might. Judy stood out. However, the figure who had just entered had not noticed her presence. Was she a mirage again? She remembered what happened when Natsuhiko took her to the past. Was she in another of the memories?**

**_"They are your memories."_ **

**Judy's eyes focus on the sound of her right side. Alisha stood there, inert with her black eyes. But her lips did not keep the famous sinister smile. But, yes, firm lips.**

**"My memories?"**

**_"Ours, to be more correct."_ **

**Judy turned her attention to the figure on her right side. And that's when her record fell. It wasn't about another mirror, no. It was about her figure.**

**_"Aya was always a special rabbit. Besides being born into a prestigious and well-recognized family in the village, she was born from the first marriage of prey and predator"._ **

**Judy studied the rabbit. Or rather, her reflection. There was nothing different in Aya for her to have been born of predator and prey.**

**_"The difference is in the blood,"_ ** **Alisha answered her.**

**"It is not possible for her to be a complete rabbit without something different besides blood."**

**_"That's where it all begins. It's not strange. Or so the priestesses say. Our world is not bound only by what our physical eyes see. This village has many peculiarities that today have been forgotten. Magic, power, and supernatural walk hand in hand. Being Aya the first of her kind, it was expected that she had something like her father"._ **

**"And she has!" Judy interrupted her. She recognized very well the difference not noticed in the eyes of others.**

**"I see you're more astute than I thought."**

**"Because I have it too." Her voice sounded sad.**

**_"Besides the blood, the color of her right eye is different. So is your vision of that same side."_ **

**It was Judy's turn to look at her tattooed reflection in the mirror again. There was something she never showed anyone. Her mother was the only one who knew since the difference was noticed in her adolescence and not at birth. She cried because she was different from her siblings, and her mother tried to calm her down that this was not the end of the world, and that one day some male would find it beautiful. Judy did not think so. The added value was the existence of contact lenses of the same color as her left eye.**

**_"Didn't you ever wonder why you could see at night with that eye of yours?"_ ** **This time, Alisha let irony slip in her words.**

**"No. I only tried once, but I got so scared that I decided never to try it again. Until I forgot I had that gift."**

**_"Besides your eye, your blood. You have the blood of mixing; you have the blood of crossing the species. And you have..."_ **

**"A curse to break."**

**Judy sighed and looked at the figure of Aya. The voices of the rabbit and the other figure had long been silent. Her mouths were moving, but the sound did not come out.**

**_"You are the direct descendant of Aya. Your parents may be normal rabbits, but Aya has reincarnated into you. Do you understand now?"_ **

**"And among so many rabbits it had to be me?" Judy stared at her with an angry expression.**

**_"Your soul has passed from generation to generation. Aya said she wanted to be born into the modern world. She said her soul would come in the bravest rabbit of the future. And it’s you!"_ **

**The voices came back to sound, startling Judy, where she fixed her attention on them again.**

**"I don't want to get married so soon!" Aya crossed her arms.**

**"You have to understand that it's your duty." The other rabbit, with a worried expression, tried to make herself heard how important it was for her to get married. "Besides, I don't understand this reluctance about it. Aren't you two a couple?"**

**"That has nothing to do with it. We're too young," the poor rabbit continued to bark.**

**"Are you thinking of meeting another male?"**

**"Of course not. I love Ryo."**

**At the sound of those words, Judy's heart beat wildly. Ryo was Nick.**

**_"Even though they both love each other, they're just two children. 16 is the perfect age to get married. At least in ancient times. More than that, it's already a disgrace to the family. However, both Aya and Ryo only wanted to enjoy their youth and get married later. Nothing is done"._ **

**Alisha lifted one of her paws in the air and snapped her fingers. The landscape has changed to a big Japanese garden and a big lake full of carp. On the red wooden bridge that crossed the lake from one side to the other, Aya and Ryo spoke. Tears were visible on the rabbit's face and a sad expression in Ryo.**

**"My love, I will do everything to make you happy. You know that we cannot fight our parents".**

**"But I don't want to go through the ritual. The priestesses said that it is an important process for the soul to connect with the moon". Aya cried more.**

**"You will see that it will be quick, and we will have a happy marriage." Ryo hugged her strongly.**

**Judy looked at them with sad eyes. If they had known what was going to happen, they would have run away and forgotten their family status.**

**_"Ryo is not to blame in all this either. He thought everything would go well. Until, one day."_ **

**"Answer me one thing, Alisha. What is your connection to the twins and Natsuhiko? You said it was a mere creation, but what you said wasn't true, was it?"**

**_"Yae and Sae were very attached to Aya's family. Since they were very young, their parents got along well. Whether it was coincidence or fate, both mothers and fathers were childhood friends. Sae's rebellion was greater and so she chose the worst path"._ **

**"I don't agree with you."**

**_"I don't understand how, after all, you've been through, you still have compassion for them?!"_ **

**** **It was enough for Judy. She took a deep breath and got up. Then she stared at Alisha in her deep black eyes. The fear that existed had dissipated, now giving way to empathy.**

**"Just as you don't understand why I have empathy with you, Aya. Not because we are the same person, but because we have different goals and different feelings. Thank you for showing me part of the story. But of one thing I assure you, I love Nick more than anything, but I won't recreate anything for us to spend what we spent previously with the twins".**

**_"Puff, I thought it would take you a little longer to figure out who I was."_ ** **Aya shrugged her shoulders.**

**Then, without warning, her paw touched Judy's right wrist and her image changed to that of the rabbit she was. The emerald green eye and the violet eye fixed Judy's with anger. The tattooed body displayed the deep bloody wounds as if the tattoo had been finished at that moment.**

**_"There is one thing you must know, Judith Hoops! Whether you like it or not, you have no choice. In your veins run my blood, my legacy. To get out of here, you'll have to recreate the moon dance."_ **

**Judy let go, but Aya grabbed her wrist firmly. The pain, until then asleep, throbbed back into her body. Tears once again invaded her eyes.**

**_"If Yae and Sae had been smart, the village would have been at peace. However, you should be careful with Natsuhiko. He is the real evil in all this. He is still at large. He is the one who will come after you"._ **

**And with this, she let her go. Judy felt herself being pulled and her forces disappearing. The pain was immense. And everything went dark.**

_To be Continue..._


End file.
